Master Tse’s  Taiji Fist #37

Thousand Gin Sinking千斤墜

Master Tse doing Tui Shou with his Sifu, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang

Jing勁 is based on Nei Gong內功– internal power. This power is based on the legs and then spreads to the whole body making it internally strong. When someone has a deep strong Nei Gong, then it means they are internally strong. When we touch them they are very soft and gentle, even their movements are soft and gentle, but once they resist, they are like a mountain that you cannot move.

My Sifu, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang 陳小旺, has very powerful Nei Gong. From 1994 until 2014 I organsised seminars for him and he would always stay at my home. When we were not at any seminars I would ask him questions about Taijiquan and its history, also I was able to pick up a lot of knowledge from him. Sometimes we would practise some Qin Na擒拿 and Tui Shou推手. One time when we were practising Tui Shou he held my arms and no matter how hard I pushed I could not move him. It was like trying to push a mountain, nothing moved and it was not effort for him. I could tell he could push me over at any time. That is, “A thousand Gin sinking.”  When someone’s internal strength is so powerful that no matter how much you try to move them you cannot, they are like a thousand Gin (a Gin is a traditional Chinese weight measurement.)